Fort Larned will join some elite company in Breeders’ Cup history today if he can duplicate last year’s Classic victory at Santa Anita Park in the final race of his career.

The 5-year-old son of E Dubai would join Tiznow (2000-01) as the only horses to win the $5 million Classic twice, a feat not even the great Cigar and the magnificent Zenyatta could accomplish.

“I was talking to Jerry Bailey, who rode Cigar, and it was interesting listening to him about how tough it is to repeat, how many horses have come back and tried,” said trainer Ian Wilkes, who has traveled a rocky road with Fort Larned this year.

“Cigar couldn’t do it. Unbridled couldn’t do it. It’s a tough assignment and it’s not going to be an easy feat.”

The assignment was made all the more difficult when Fort Larned stumbled at the start of his first race this year in the Gulfstream Park Handicap on March 9, tossing jockey Brian Hernandez and running off. The mishap affected the horse’s entire schedule.

Wilkes rushed him into the Oaklawn Handicap five weeks later and Fort Larned finished a badly beaten fifth. It wasn’t until the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, which he won by 6 1/4 lengths, that he got his swag back.

“That stumble was the biggest hiccup in the year,” Wilkes said. “It really changed the whole complexion of the year. I still believe if he doesn’t stumble, he wins, I stay on my schedule and it’s a different year altogether.

“But that’s the adversity of it. When he stumbled, I tried to make up the race at Oaklawn and that was probably a bad decision on my part. The horse never gave me any indication how much it took out of him when he ran loose. So after that I had to regroup, get back to the Stephen Foster, and he showed what he can do.”

A muscle strain kept Fort Larned out of the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 31 and Wilkes chose the inaugural Homecoming Classic on Sept. 28 as the horse’s final prep for the Breeders’ Cup.

He blew away five mostly undistinguished foes at Churchill Downs by 11/2 lengths, setting it up for his attempt at history today.

“It all gets down to the break,” Wilkes said. “The break is the most important thing in this race, especially for speed horses. If I was a closer, the break is not very important, but as a speed horse that’s the important thing and that will determine where the winnings are.”

There’s plenty of speed in the 1 1/4-mile race that will be run over the main track. Fort Larned, who went gate to wire to win last year’s running at 9-1, figures as one of the pacesetters along with 8-5 favorite Game On Dude and Moreno.

Mucho Macho Man, who won the Awesome Again Stakes impressively at Santa Anita on Sept. 28, figures, along with the likes of Will Take Charge, Palace Malice and Flat Out, to be part of the brigade that will be closing in the stretch.

“It’s a tough field,” Wilkes said. “It’s probably just as good as last year. The 3-year-olds in the race are probably a little better quality than last year. You’ve got a classic winner in here (Palace Malice) that went through the Triple Crown. You’ve got a horse (Will Take Charge) that’s just getting good now, and then you’ve got the European factor. How good are those horses on the dirt? You just can’t rule them out. And then you bring back four horses from last year’s Classic and it’s just as good.”

Hernandez will ride Fort Larned — who’s won 10 of 24 races lifetime for earnings of $4.1 million — for the 10th consecutive race.

Wilkes said he’s confident in the jockey, who’s maybe not as recognizable as Mike Smith, Javier Castellano or John Velazquez.

“If you come into this race and you question your rider, if you’ve got to give him a lot of instructions, then I’ve got the wrong rider,” he said. “I have a lot of confidence in him. He knows the horse. He knows the horse’s strength, his weakness.

“The thing that’s been good is (success) hasn’t gone to his head. He hasn’t become a prima donna jockey or something like that. He’s stayed very level-headed about it.”

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